Sunbeamtech Air Box USB 3.0 External HDD Enclosure Review

It took a while for the external enclosure manufacturers to catch up with the motherboard makers. USB 3.0 however was introduced a while ago. Sadly at CeBIT 2010, we saw mainly prototypes, meaning they were not production ready. Sunbeamtech was the first specialist to send us a full blown USB3.0 3.5inch external enclosure branded under the Airbox name. External data backup via USB has always been painfully slow, surely compared to the more expensive Firewire and eSATA solutions. Will this USB3.0 external solution be able to close the gap ? Let us see if we can stuff it with precious data at blistering speeds.

Introduction, Specs & Closer Look

Introduction

It took a while for the external enclosure manufacturers to catch up with the motherboard makers. USB 3.0 however was introduced a while ago. Sadly at CeBIT 2010, we saw mainly prototypes, meaning they were not production ready. Sunbeamtech was the first specialist to send us a full blown USB3.0 3.5inch external enclosure branded under the Airbox name. External data backup via USB has always been painfully slow, surely compared to the more expensive Firewire and eSATA solutions. Will this USB3.0 external solution be able to close the gap ? Let us see if we can stuff it with precious data at blistering speeds.

About Sunbeamtech:Sunbeamtech Company was founded in 2000 and specialized in the development of cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL). Expanding our business to provide the computer DIY (Do It Yourself) market with stylish, fancy and high performing products. Sunbeamtech's mission is to satisfy computer DIYers all over the world who are tired of boring designs when it comes to computer hardware and who want exiting revolutionary products. The Company has grown to provide an extensive line of products to suit the desires of its customer.

The research & development team, which is located in Taipei, Taiwan, constantly strives to develop innovative, unique, and high performance products.

The Airbox USB 3.0 3.5"

The Icon specs on the box tell it all :

Interface : USB3.0 (backwards compatible)

Supports USB Hot Plug Feature

Supports up to 2TB drives

Compact design for easy portability

For maximum cooling performance : aluminum housing with 8cm LED Fan

Some pictures of this black beauty:

The tray slides out after removing 2 tiny screws (screwdriver is supplied!). The tray is made of some heavy duty plastic, yet very lightweight.

Electronics on close up. The eagle yes among you might have spotted that the connectors are detached. We took the pictures just before doing the thermal test. So we disconnected the fan and LED plugs.

Clean, simple tray solution. Note the Big acryl on the front. This will lighten up with a Blue LED if the HD's has any activity

On the back side you find the on/off button, DC plug in, the USB 3.0 cable connector and the FAN LED button

The 80mm fan pulls in cold air, allows it to flow around the installed HD and heated air is expelled via tiny holes in the rear

Close up of the 80mm fan. You can clearly spot the 4 LEDS, which can be turned off via the FAN LED button. Also all the wires are hot glued so there's almost no risk of a wire detaching itself during transport.

The USB 3.0 Cable and the DC unit. Especially the latter is very compact and a good step away from the notebook alike power supplies we usually get with external enclosures